Luna Lovegood and the Dark Lord's Blunder
by shoeberray
Summary: By a strange turn of events and a bout of mistaken identity, Voldemort accidentally attempts murder on the wrong baby resulting in a world where Luna Lovegood is the Girl-Who-Lived and Dumbledore is convinced she is the one in Trelawney's prophecy.
1. Chapter 1

Pandora Lovegood got many of her ideas for spells from her husband's research. Her newest invention involved the recently issued Quibbler article on wrackspurts and spectrespecs. Pandora was a bit more practical than her husband. As such, she realized that ostentatious eyewear drew unwanted attention from the majority of the wizarding world which still denied the existence of wrackspurts. Spectrespecs wouldn't sell well if the people that bought them couldn't wear them inconspicuously to avoid scrutiny from the public. Xenophilius would have no problem standing out in the crowd, but most people would. For that matter, Pandora didn't want to make a spectacle of herself.

With her concerns of visibility, Pandora set out to find a way to duplicate the effect of the spectrespecs without having to wear the actual glasses. She studied the spectrespecs, made her calculations, performed the necessary tests, and eventually came up with a spell. Quickly, she cast the spell on herself ready to see the world through magically enhanced eyes. To her grave disappointment, the spell failed. Not only did she not see any wrackspurts, the world around her looked exactly the same as it always had. Her spell didn't alter her vision at all.

Pandora stashed her wand and cleared up the room. Currently, she was in Xenophilius' sister's basement, something which would greatly upset said sister if she knew. Zephyra Lovegood disapproved of Pandora's experiments, at least when those experiments were being executed in her house.

Once out of the room, Pandora headed to the guest room where she guessed that her husband would be telling adventurous tales to their daughter even though she was too young to understand much less appreciate the stories. In the doorway, Pandora looked upon the scene -exactly as she envisioned- with a fond smile on her face. She hated to break up the bonding moment between father and daughter, but Xenophilius would never get his work done if she didn't push him to it every once in awhile.

Stepping forward, Pandora gathered Luna into her arms. "Pan, we were just getting to the good part," Xenophilius protested.

Pandora smiled indulgently at her husband. "Is it the part where Gilfried talks circles around the sphinx and confuses it to the point where it forgets the answer to the riddle it proposed?"

"Of course! Gilfried was a wordsmith. Let me finish the story, so Luna knows that words can solve problems where force fails."

"You told me you wanted to finish the article on the floo conspiracy tonight. Let me take Luna on a walk, and you can finish up your story after you've completed your article."

"Alright. Don't be long. Zephyra should be home in a minute, and she wanted to talk to you about an idea she had for a spell."

Pandora nodded hiding her grimace. She loved her sister-in-law, but her spell suggestions always consisted of spells that already existed. Even after all her years of knowing the woman, she still couldn't tell whether it was an elaborate joke or not. Pandora wanted to ask her outright but avoided doing so out of the fear that Zephyra was sincere and her question would be insulting.

As Pandora walked through the various cottages in the quaint wizarding neighborhood, she spotted a house she was sure wasn't there in the morning. Figuring Zephyra had new neighbors, Pandora ambled over to the house in order to welcome the family into the neighborhood. She shifted Luna in her arms so that she could knock on the door without loosing her hold on Luna. As she stood there waiting for an answer, Pandora was entirely oblivious to the panic she just caused beyond the door.

James Potter laughed merrily as he chased his son as he sped around the room on his toy broom. "Go, Harry! Escape the madman!" Lily urged on from her place leaning against the entryway between the living room and the kitchen just in case Harry tried to make an actual escape.

James crashed against the wall besides Lily as Harry raced passed giggling adorably. "The mad man?" he asked affronted. "I'm mildly miffed at the most."

"Not that kind of mad," Lily chided fondly.

James nodded in understanding. "Ah. In that case, you should have gone with the completely bonkers man. Mad is too light a description for me."

"Don't I know that better than most." The couple laughed before watching their son stop the broom and tumble off finally having gotten bored of zipping around. Harry twitched around, sat up, and started picking up the toy broom and turning it about, studying it.

"I think he's trying to figure out how it works," James mused.

Lily chuckled. "I think he's trying to figure out the best place to gnaw on."

James started to respond -probably with a quip about how the bristles were clearly the choice gnawing region- when a loud knock boomed against the front door. The two parents froze briefly before simultaneously rushing forward to snatch up Harry. Lily beat James to it and hugged Harry to her chest as she stared at the door in apprehension.

"You weren't expecting Sirius were you? Or Dumbledore?" Lily whispered fearfully.

"Sirius doesn't know the meaning of the word 'knock'," James whispered back. "And Dumbledore wouldn't come without some sort of warning or signal. And it can't be Remus or Peter. Remus is still abroad, and Peter always sends word ahead."

"Maybe it's an emergency. Maybe Peter didn't have time to send word."

"Then he should be breaking down the door, not waiting patiently for us to answer it."

"Well, it can't be Voldemort or any of the Death Eaters. I highly doubt they'd politely knock on the door before trying to kill us."

"You never know. Voldemort does have a flair for the dramatic."

Lily shook her head. "Ok. Maybe it is Peter. I love him, but he can be amazingly absent minded at times."

James took out his wand and gestured for Lily to stand back. "I'll open the door. Stay back with Harry until it's safe."

As James ordered, Lily stayed in place as James crept towards the door slowly. Even so, she took out her wand from her robes in case James needed help, or in case she needed to make a quick escape with Harry, but she didn't want to dwell on that scenario.

Cautiously, James opened the door. He stared in surprise at the blond woman holding a baby younger than Harry in the fold of her arms. "Hello. You must be new to the neighborhood," the woman greeted seemingly indifferent to the wand leveled at her. "I'm Pandora Lovegood, and this is my daughter, Luna. We're staying with my sister-in-law, Zephyra, for the next few weeks."

Neither James nor Lily could make heads or tails of this unexpected occurrence. How and why had this woman gotten past the Fidelius Charm? James tightened his grip on his wand. Pandora seemed innocent enough, but people didn't just break through a Fidelius Charm by accident.

"Tell us how you got through the Fidelius Charm," James demanded threateningly.

Pandora furrowed her brows. "The Fidelius Charm?" Understanding flooded her face, and then a large smile broke out. "Oh, how wonderful! My spell did something after all. I can't wait to tell Xenophilius!"

James was starting to get annoyed with this woman's games. He had a wife and child to protect. "Do you see this?" He asked moving his wand a bit to get Pandora's attention on the weapon. He didn't know why she was immune to having a wand pointed at her, but he wanted her complacency to end immediately. "I may not get up to the same sick tricks Voldemort and his followers practice, but I have some tricks of my own that made more than a few of those followers beg for forgiveness. I suggest you answer my questions before I show you what they experienced firsthand."

"Oh my. That's not very neighborly," Pandora said with a disapproving frown. "Then again, having a Fidelius Charm is unneighborly in itself. I can't imagine wanting to dissuade visits so much that I cast a charm on my house to make it undetectable to others."

"Enough idiocy!" James roared. "What are you doing here and how did you get past the Fidelius Charm?"

Pandora finally started to feel a sense of danger coming from the tall, enraged man in front of her. She definitely didn't like this man. She came over to welcome him to the neighborhood and was met solely with hostility. The man hadn't even introduced himself after Pandora had introduced herself. The red-haired woman in the background hadn't even said a word. This family clearly had no manners.

Despite all that, Pandora couldn't pass up the opportunity to share the news about her invention. "That's actually quite the funny story." From the man's face, he didn't believe that the story would be funny. "I was trying to duplicate the function of spectrespecs while ridding the need for wearing the spectrespecs, but the spell didn't work as I intended. I thought it was utterly worthless at first. Then, I saw your house as I was taking a walk, and I figured you had just moved in, so I came over to welcome you to the neighborhood. I realize now that my spell allowed me to bypass the Fidelius Charm, and you probably didn't just move here."

Lily and James stared back at Pandora completely baffled. That had to be the worst lie that had ever been fed to them. A beat later, they thought it had to be the truth. This was way too intricate and subtle of a plan for Voldemort. If he had any way of breaching the charm, he'd barge in and start flinging spells right away. Of course, the realization that Pandora told the truth brought about a whole new list of problems. If she had a spell that made the Fidelius Charm useless, it was only a matter of time before Voldemort got a hold of her. He would force Pandora to teach him the spell and to reveal the location of the Potters.

"We need to contact Dumbledore. Right away," Lily told James.

James nodded still keeping his eye and his wand on Pandora while slowly backing towards his wife. As he neared her, Lily snatched onto his arm and apparated away from the house and the strange woman on the porch.

Pandora blinked at the empty space that used to be occupied by two adults and a baby. They must really hate guests to vacate the house as soon as someone visited. Pandora gazed around the inside and outside of the house wondering whether she should close the door for them or just leave to respect their wishes of living in solitude. Just as Pandora decided it would be prudent to shut the door to block out windblown leaves and such, a loud crack of apparition whipped through the air. Stunned, Pandora spun towards the source. Even she recognized the gaunt, snakelike face before her.

"You," she gasped.

"Yes, me," Voldemort said holding off his kill, so he could brag about himself first. Murdering just wasn't as fun if he didn't tell his victims how incredibly talented and canny he was. "Did you really think you could stay hidden from me for so long? Nothing can stay hidden from me!"

"I didn't know I was hiding from you yet. Xenophilius' article revealing your secret plan to rob Gringotts using nifflers while we're all distracted by the war hasn't come out yet. How did you already find out about that?" Xenophilius and Pandora had already talked about how they'd have to go into hiding once Voldemort found out they knew what he was really after, but they never expected him to discover their intel before the article came out.

Momentarily thrown, Voldemort stopped in his tracks. With a short shake of his head and a cold laugh, Voldemort continued his glide towards the blond woman. "What nonsense are you blathering about? Is this part of your ridiculous disguise? Did you really think I would just leave you alone if you changed your appearance with Transfiguration? I'm much cleverer than that, Lily Potter. Now, step aside so I can kill the boy. There's no need for you to die too."

Pandora scratched her head. Lily Potter. Who was that? "I think you have me mistaken with someone else."

Voldemort gave another empty laugh. "Silly girl, you can't fool me." He raised his wand pointing it at the baby. "Avada-" Recognizing that -mistaken identity or not- her daughter was in danger, Pandora turned her back as Voldemort finished the second part of the spell to move Luna out of the way. "-Kedavra."

The green light hit Pandora directly in the spine of her back. She let out a small cry cut off by her death. Voldemort watched dispassionately as Pandora crumpled to the ground dropping the child as she did so. He walked over to the screeching thing dangling the wand between his fingers. "Your fool of a mother died for you, Harry Potter," Voldemort said not letting the infancy of his victim get in the way of his bragging routine. "But now it's your turn to die. 'Power the Dark Lord knows not'. Let's see how much that helps you as you lie crying on the ground before me. You were no match for me. No one is. Avada Kedavra."

Luna stopped crying as the green light darted towards the center of her forehead. Voldemort smirked at the child's demise when the spell hit its mark. His smirk disappeared as the spell rebounded off the baby and redirected itself straight towards him. The resulting explosion destroyed the nearby house and shattered the Fidelius Charm. People peered out of the windows of their house to see what all the noise was about. As they saw a burning house and multiple bodies on the floor, they sent up alarms for help.

Two hours later, Lily stared up at Dumbledore with disbelief as he said Luna Lovegood must have been the child mentioned in the prophecy all along. James was given Harry watching duty in the next room to keep him from going after Peter Pettigrew for his betrayal. "Excuse me, Professor, but I don't think that makes sense," Lily said hesitantly. She had a great deal of admiration for the man which meant she couldn't just come out and say that he sounded bloody bonkers.

"Of course it does, my dear girl," Dumbledore said with certainty. "Voldemort tried to kill her, but failed leaving her only with a scar shaped as a question mark without the point. The prophecy said that Voldemort would mark her as his equal."

"He," Lily stressed. "The prophecy said, 'the Dark Lord will mark _him_ as his equal.' Luna's a her."

"It was a gender neutral he," Dumbledore explained. "Prophecies aren't allowed to give too much away lest we try to prevent them, so they often use the gender neutral he. It doesn't necessarily mean that the subject of the prophecy is male."

That didn't sound right to Lily, but she didn't know enough about prophecies to dispute it considering the only prophecy she ever heard was the one she thought involved her son. "But what about the part that says, 'born as the seventh month dies'? According to you, Luna was born on February 13. That's the middle of the second month, not the end of the seventh month."

"Ah, yes, but February is seven months after July." Dumbledore smiled triumphantly at Lily.

"While true," Lily said slowly. "I don't really see the relevance of that."

"It's quite simple actually. We originally thought the prophecy referred to the seventh month of the year making us think that either Neville Longbottom or Harry Potter was the subject of the prophecy. The prophecy actually meant that the subject would be born the seventh month after who we originally thought the prophecy referred to was born."

Lily was starting to get a headache following Dumbledore's questionable logic. "Ok. Even if we assume that's true-" and Lily was seriously starting to doubt that no matter how much she respected Dumbledore's brilliance "-it still says, 'as the seventh month _dies'._ How does that fit?"

"Ah, that one is even more tricky. You see, Lily, 13 is the inverse of 31, and the 31st is the end of many months. Besides, 13 is considered the number of death to many people."

Lily thought it over. Thirteen really was related to death. Everything Dumbledore said sort of made sense, in a way, even if it seemed rather absurd. Still, Lily trusted Dumbledore, and Luna had somehow beaten Voldemort. She supposed she would have to accept that Luna was the child in the prophecy.

"Wait," Lily started having thought of something else. "The prophecy also said that the parents thrice-defied Voldemort. How did Luna's parents defy him?"

"Luna's father is in charge of a magazine that her mother co-edits. _The Quibbler_ turned out three different articles insulting Voldemort in various ways. So you see, my dear girl, it all works out."

"I guess," Lily said uncertainly. She decided it was time to end the conversation on this matter and move on to another topic. "How did Luna defeat Voldemort? Do you know?"

"I have a strong suspicion. I believe it was love."

Lily waited for Dumbledore to elaborate, but he just stared back at her expectantly. "Love? What do you mean it was love?"

"I mean that Luna's mother sacrificed herself to save Luna out of love, and that love formed a protective shield around Luna that backfired on Voldemort when he tried again to kill her. It's the power that Voldemort knows not."

Lily sat for a bit in silence letting everything Dumbledore had told her sink in. It all seemed pretty preposterous if she was being honest, but the truth was often stranger than fiction. "I'm going to check on James," Lily announced as she stood up. For one thing, she didn't think she could handle anymore strange discourse with her old headmaster. She was beginning to think he had gone a bit barmy after all. For another thing, she wanted to see the son she would have lost if not for the strange woman that managed to see through a Fidelius Charm at the exact wrong time. _Or exact right time_ , Lily thought guiltily. If it hadn't been Pandora, it could have been Lily or James or Harry or maybe all three of them.


	2. Chapter 2

Two years later, the Potters received a knock on the door of their new place that ended up being Xenophilius Lovegood and his daughter. Recognizing the two right away from various newspaper photos, Lily widened her eyes in surprise. "How can I help you?" she asked a bit dumbstruck.

"I assume this is the Potter residence," Xenophilius said with a slight hint of question though he barreled on before Lily could confirm the statement. "I thought it would be good for both my daughter and I to meet the last two living people to see my wife alive. The last two living people besides Luna, of course."

"Oh, yes. Do come in. Please," Lily invited stepping back to give the two room. "I'm Lily Potter. My husband, James, is upstairs with my son, Harry."

"Oh, good," Xenophilius said pleasantly. "The children can get acquainted while us adults talk. Luna, why don't you go upstairs and show Harry your new necklace?"

"Ok!" Luna ran off quickly with an excited spring to her step.

"Would you like some tea?" Lily offered as she led the guest to the living room.

"Please. As long as it's not green tea. Nargles like to take refuge amongst green tea leaves. Even though I don't think they'd stay when boiling water is added, I'd rather not risk it."

"Er, right," Lily said deciding not to ask. She'd read the man's magazine once out of curiosity, so she knew to expect a bit of nonsense from him.

"I hear we have a guest," James said as he made his way down the stairs.

"That we do," Lily confirmed. "Xenophilius, this is my husband, James. James, this is Xenophilius Lovegood."

"A pleasure to meet you," James said politely reaching for Xenophilius' hand.

"Did Pandora say anything to either of you before she died?" Xenophilius asked after he finished shaking James' hand. James and Lily exchanged looks thinking back to the strange, muddled memory that got overshadowed by the panic of the time.

"She invented a new spell," Lily said with a slight, sad smile. That was the spell that saved the Potters and endangered Pandora and Luna. "She was able to see past the Fidelius Charm."

Xenophilius looked down sadly, but then smiled in nostalgia. "She was always trying to make up new spells. I'm glad she succeeded in something so impressive before she died."

Lily felt horrible. She had never gotten over her guilt concerning Pandora's death. "Xenophilius, I'm sorry. Voldemort was after us, and Pandora got in the crossfire. I wish-" Lily cut herself off. There was no point in saying she wished she could go back in time and save Pandora. Wishes didn't change anything.

Xenophilius tilted his head up in question. "Was Voldemort after you too? I figured out that Voldemort went after Pandora due to our knowledge of his niffler bunker. Did you two also know of the bunker?"

Lily caught James' eyes and raised her brows in question. He shrugged. "No. We didn't know about the niffler bunker."

"Then why was Voldemort after you? Did he have another plan you knew about?"

"Yes, actually," James said with a mischievous grin that Lily recognized as the one he used when about to play a prank on someone.

"James," she warned.

James continued on anyways. "We heard that Voldemort planned to start an underground gambling ring in the Chamber of Secrets and that he was bribing law enforcement to look the other way with rare chocolate frog cards."

Surreptitiously, Lily elbowed her husband in the side. His grin did not diminish at all. For Xenophilius' part, he nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. I heard Death Eaters were buying a suspiciously large number of chocolate frogs just before Voldemort's downfall. Do you mind if I include this in the next edition of _The Quibbler_? I'll add in your name to give you credit, of course."

"Please do," implored James, his grin growing even wider. At that moment, Harry ran down the stairs to his mother, Luna trailing behind.

"Mommy, can I get a cork necklace like Luna?" Harry asked looking up at her with wide eyes.

Lily glanced at the strange, ugly necklace on the little girl's neck. "I suppose if you really want it."

Harry nodded emphatically. "It keeps nargles away." Lily sighed as her husband laughed behind his hand. She'd have to explain to Harry that nargles weren't real once their guests left.

From then on, the Lovegoods and the Potters met up on occasion to give their two children time to play together. At the age of four, Luna met another new friend, Ginny Weasley. Luna didn't make any more friends for the next many years of her life, but the two she had were more than enough for her.

When Luna arrived at the Hogwart's station with her father, she noticed that everyone was staring at her. It was something she was used to considering it happened every time she went out in public. She knew why, of course. Her father was the publisher of a very famous magazine, and her photo was in one of the earlier editions. In the photo, a six year old Luna stood next to the skeleton of a versnu bird recently uncovered by one of the writers for _The Quibbler._ Luna was a bit surprised that people still recognized her from the five year old photo, but she supposed the scar on her forehead was a memorable indicator.

Luna hugged Xenophilius goodbye and boarded the train hoping to find Ginny or at least, Harry. She had no such luck. Instead, Luna ended up sitting in an empty compartment as she waited for more people to arrive. In the meantime, Luna pulled out the newest edition of _The Quibbler_ to pass the time. She couldn't have been reading for more than 20 minutes when the compartment door slid open and a girl about Luna's age stepped in.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" the girl asked as she closed the door not really giving Luna a good look.

"Oh, not at all. I love company," Luna said setting her magazine aside. It would be rude to continue reading in the presence of someone else.

The girl smile gratefully at Luna and then froze as her eyes landed on the oddly shaped scar on Luna's forehead. She sat down across from Luna never taking her eyes off her as she did so. "You're Luna Lovegood," the girl announced.

"I am," Luna agreed and then frowned. Usually, people introduced themselves instead of the other person. Maybe the new trend was to introduce each other. "Though, I'm afraid I can't introduce you. I don't know your name," Luna continued apologetically.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said horrified. "I forgot to tell you my name. I'm Lisa Turpin."

"You're Lisa Turpin," Luna repeated glad that she could complete the introductions now that she knew the other girl's name.

Lisa crinkled her brows. "Er, yes. I just said that."

"Are you a first year as well?" Luna moved on, curious about her new friend.

"No. This is my second year."

"Oh!" Luna exclaimed. "My friend Harry is in your year. Do you know Harry Potter?"

Lisa pursed her lips in thought. "Does he have messy hair and glasses?" Luna nodded. "I've seen him around, but I've never talked to him."

"Pity. If you do ever talk to him, you two can talk about _The Quibbler_. His family receives a free copy every month since Harry's father contributed to one of the magazines more popular articles."

Lisa twisted her face in confusion. "What is _The Quibbler_?"

Luna blinked back at her new friend. "It's the magazine my father owns. Isn't that how you knew who I was?"

"Are you having a laugh?" Lisa asked starting to get irritated.

Luna sighed. It was a common occurrence for people to think she was playing a joke on them. She didn't understand why. "No, I'm not."

"You're the Girl-Who-Lived!" Lisa burst out throwing her hands up.

Now that was an interesting moniker. Luna tilted her head. "I am a girl, and I did live. I'm still living actually. Though, I wouldn't say I'm the girl who lived since every girl is a girl who lived by default. Unless I'm the only girl and all the other ones are just in my imagination, I wouldn't call myself _the_ girl who lived."

Lisa's mouth stuck slightly open as she gazed at the strange girl in front of her still not sure if Luna was just pulling a prank on her or not. She decided to clarify in any case. "You vanquished You-Know-Who!"

"Oh, that," Luna said with a shake of the head. She couldn't believe people still believed that a mere baby could defeat Voldemort singlehandedly. "That's just the official story. What actually happened is that a powerful casino tycoon murdered Voldemort to stop the competition coming from Voldemort's aspiring underground gambling ring. He fled the scene before anyone saw him, and everyone jumped to conclusions that I murdered Voldemort because I was still there."

Lisa knew for certain now that Luna was playing a joke on her. The story was too ridiculous for anyone to actually believe. "And the ministry covered this up because the casino tycoon was a higher up in the ministry?" Lisa improvised in an attempt to play along with Luna's little joke. She could enjoy a good sense of humor.

Luna nodded emphatically. "Yes, exactly. Most people don't come to that conclusion so quickly." Luna picked up her _Quibbler_ and handed it to Lisa. "Here. I think you'd be a valuable reader for our magazine."

Dubiously, Lisa reached out and took the magazine. This was all a joke, right? Surely, she'd have heard by now if the Girl-Who-Lived was insane. "It's always nice to have new reading material," Lisa said politely keeping her thoughts to herself.

For the duration of the rest of the trip, Lisa went back and forth between convincing herself that Luna was joking and thinking that Luna's oddities were actually genuine. She wasn't sure what she thought of Luna Lovegood as the two parted ways so Luna could join the rest of the first years. All she knew was that her excitement at meeting the heroine of the wizarding world was greatly diminished from her initial realization of the girl's identity.

Luna found Ginny in time to secure a boat with her and two other girls. "You're Luna Lovegood!" one of the unknown girls exclaimed as she narrowed her gaze in on the question mark scar on Luna's forehead.

Luna frowned uncomfortably. This introducing the other person thing had really taken ahold quickly, and she was at a disadvantage. She hardly ever knew the names of strangers, but they usually knew hers.

"She's not Luna Lovegood," Ginny said before Luna could express her sorrow over not being able to return the introduction. "Her mom decided it was fashionable to have a question mark on her forehead like the Girl-Who-Lived, so she spelled it on."

Luna stared at her friend in question. She never could really comprehend Ginny's humor. "I wasn't talking to you," the other girl said snidely to Ginny before smiling at Luna. "You are her, aren't you? I'm Nashira Mercer."

"Who's Luna Lovegood?" the remaining girl piped up after Nashira finished speaking.

Nashira turned to her incredulously. "Merlin, you must be a muggleborn," Nashira said disdainfully. "You might want to do yourself a favor and crack open a few books before you make a fool of yourself with your ignorance."

Ginny glared at Nashira as the muggleborn looked down with tinged cheeks. "I suppose you'll fit right into Slytherin with that attitude," Ginny snapped at Nashira.

"Actually, I expect to end up in Ravenclaw, but go ahead and tell me how it's a bad suggestion for a muggleborn to gather information about the magical world they're about to enter."

"It's in the way you told her."

Nashira laughed coldly. "I see you're the oversensitive type."

Quickly, Luna took out her wand and swished it in a wide circle over her head. "Banishio!" Luna cried out.

In response, Ginny groaned and put her face in her hands, the unnamed girl looked around frantically, and Nashira asked, "What spell was that?"

"It was a spell to get rid of the quarrel fairies," Luna explained.

"Quarrel fairies?" Nashira repeated.

"Don't ask," Ginny warned in a muffled voice.

Ignoring her friend, Luna smiled at Nashira. "They fly around people and cause negative feelings to try and stir up arguments. They feed off of bickering, but they should be gone now, so you two don't have to fight anymore."

"Right," Nashira said skeptically. She sidled up closer to Ginny to whisper to her privately. "Is she being serious?"

Ginny nodded gravely. "Never assume she's joking."

As the two talked privately, Luna turned to the remaining girl. "What's your name? I'd love to introduce you."

"I'm… er… Amanda Shaw."

The rest of the boat ride passed uneventfully, and Luna absorbed herself back into _The Quibbler_ until the sorting started. When Professor McGonagall called her name, silence descended over the Great Hall only for a moment. Then, a flurry of excited whispers broke out. The cumulative noise from the whispers was enough to almost drown out Ginny's good luck wish as Luna stepped forward.

"Hello there!" the hat greeted as it was placed on Luna's head.

"Hello, hat. Are you having a pleasant day?" Luna thought.

"One of the best in memory though I do confess that my memory is short lasting. No more chitchat, I'm afraid. I've figure out your house and it's RAVENCLAW!"

Luna scampered to the table that was clapping the most vigorously and lit up when she saw Lisa at the table. Luna slid into the empty seat next to her and gave her attention to the remainder of the sorting ceremony. She was very curious to see Ginny's placement though it seemed obvious that Ginny would end up in Gryffindor like the rest of her family.

When Nashira Mercer was sorted soon after Luna, the hat placed her in Ravenclaw as well. She sat across from Luna. Their other boat mate, Amanda Shaw, ended up in Hufflepuff. Ginny Weasley got sorted last into Gryffindor, as expected. Luna watched as her friend sat at the table that included her other friend, Harry. She kind of wished she had been sorted into Gryffindor too, but she knew Ravenclaw fit her much better.

For the first few days of Luna's schooling, she was bombarded with questions and requests for autographs. Luna answered every question but refused to sign any autographs due to the chance that one of the other students could be working with the ministry to steal signatures from the unsuspecting. Every time Luna gave this explanation to someone asking for an autograph, she was met with a blank stare and a slow backing away.

On the school front, Luna enjoyed all of her classes. Only, she was starting to suspect there was something seriously wrong with one of her professors. "I think Professor McGonagall is a cat," Luna announced to Lisa in the common room after classes one day.

Lisa had heard all sorts of strange beliefs and theories from Luna in the short amount of time she knew her, but this new one still caught her off guard. "A cat? You think the Transfiguration teacher is a cat? How could you possibly think that?"

"Her classroom smells like cat sometimes, and I've seen cat fur strewn about the classroom floor. How else would you explain that?"

"Er, maybe she has a cat," Lisa suggested with the most obvious explanation for the matter.

"No. I asked her if she did."

"Maybe Mr. Filch's cat wanders into the Transfiguration class from time to time."

"No. It didn't look like Mrs. Norris' fur. It's definitely Professor McGonagall that's a cat."

Faced with her friend's stubbornness, Lisa gave up and resorted to her usual method of dealing with Luna's peculiar theories. "I did see McGonagall keeping a close eye on a mouse the other day. Maybe she was fighting her cat instincts to chase the mouse."

Luna nodded along completely oblivious to the fact that Lisa was just humoring her. "She probably has to pretend to be human so she can keep working at Hogwarts."

Lisa wasn't the only person that Luna told her theory about McGonagall to. She told Nashira in the common room later that night. Nashira glared up at her balefully over her book. "Luna, I'm studying. I don't have time to listen to your nonsense if I want to pass my first exam."

Next, Luna told Ginny and Harry who were hanging out with Ginny's brother, Ron, at the time. As Ginny and Harry were used to Luna, they just snorted and surreptitiously rolled their eyes at each other. Ron, not having as much exposure to Luna, spluttered. "You think McGonagall's a cat? What does that even mean?"

Luna furrowed her brows. "You don't know what a cat is, Ron?"

Harry roared with laughter as Ginny smirked at Ron. "You'll have to forgive my brother, Luna. He doesn't know anything that doesn't have to do with Quidditch."

Ron scowled at his sister. "Shut up, Ginny." He turned to Luna. "Obviously, I know what a cat is. What I don't know is how you could possibly think McGonagall is one."

Luna felt sorry for people like Ron. They always had to have things explained to them even when the reasoning was clear. "She has cat fur all over the classroom, the class smells like fur, and she doesn't like water. Why do you think she doesn't even allow water bottles in class?"

Ron gaped back at her before looking to his friend and sister for help. "Is she having me on?"

Harry shook his head with a large grin. "Luna makes connections that no one else does," he equivocated so that he avoided insulting Luna.

Luna smiled at the perceived compliment. "Everyone could make the same connections if they just opened their mind a little more."

"You're saying the reason that the whole school doesn't think one of our Professors is a cat is becauses we're too closed minded?" Ron asked incredulously. "Does the fact that she has the ability to speak and perform magic not prove that she's not a cat?"

"Of course not. Just because we think cats can't speak or perform magic doesn't mean they can't, and I think Professor McGonagall proves that at least one cat can."

Still gaping, Ron rubbed at his forehead. "I think I'm coming up with a headache. I'm going back to the common room. You coming, mate?"

Harry shook his head still smiling in amusement. "Nah. Go on without me."

Baffled at his friend's willingness to stay around the definitely crazy girl, Ron stumbled off wondering how the saviour of the wizarding world ended up being someone so bizarre. Maybe she suffered some brain damage from the spell. "It's ickle Ronniekins!" George greeted enthusiastically when Ron entered the common room almost making him wish he hadn't left Luna.

"Bugger off, George."

"Want a toffee?" Fred asked from next to his twin holding out the candy to Ron in offer.

Ron eyed the toffee suspiciously. "Did you do something to it?"

Fred put his hand over his heart in feigned hurt. "Would I give my baby brother a tampered toffee?"

"Yes." Ron reached out and shoved Fred's hand away. "Did you know Luna Lovegood is completely insane?"

Fred shoved the toffee into his mouth. Perhaps he hadn't done anything to the candy. "Well, her father runs _The Quibbler_. It's no surprise if his crazy theories rubbed off onto his daughter."

"That's a joke magazine, innit? The one that thinks the aurors are trying to take over the ministry with gum disease or something like that?" Ron asked as he mulled over the information that Fred provided him. After his encounter with Luna, he wouldn't be surprised if _The Quibbler_ had an article about cat people and not the cat people like Ginny who just liked cats as pets.

"And it has articles about crumple-horned snorkacks about every other month. It's quite an amusing read actually," George said thoughtfully. His mother had bought a subscription to _The Quibbler_ soon after it was revealed that the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood was the baby that somehow defeated Voldemort. She cancelled the subscription soon afterwards, but Fred and George had found the old magazines.

"Is there anything about cat people?" Ron asked.

"Cat people? You mean like Filch?"

"No. I mean Luna thinks that Professor McGonagall is a cat."

Fred and George exchanged quick, startled glances. "How does she know about that?" Fred asked.

Ron groaned. "Please, no joking about it. You should have seen how serious Luna was about it."

"But Ron, McGonagall is a cat," George persisted. "Well, sometimes. She's a cat animagus, but you're not supposed to learn that until your third year."

Squinting at his brother, Ron tried to figure out whether he was messing with him or not. Unfortunately, he never knew with Fred and George. "Whatever. I'm going to play exploding snap with Dean and Seamus." Ron headed off to the mentioned Gryffindors. At that point, he didn't care whether McGonagall was really an animagus or not. He just wanted to get away from anymore discussion about her or cats. Still, the thought lingered in his mind.

Much to Professor McGonagall's surprise, Ron Weasley raised his hand during his next Transfiguration class. Ron didn't usually contribute to class discussion, and as such, him raising his hand was a rare occurrence. In fact, McGonagall didn't think it had ever been done before. "Did you have a question, Mr. Weasley?"

"Is it true you're a cat animagus?" Ron asked having been pestered by the idea since George had told him so.

McGonagall was only slightly surprised. Every once in awhile, someone from her classes spilled the beans to a lower classman though it happened less often than one would think with chatty children. Each time, McGonagall was disappointed. She enjoyed the looks of shock on the third years' faces every time she transformed from a cat to human in front of their eyes. By asking in the middle of class, Ron took away one of her favorite parts of teaching. At least the other second year students might not hear of this before next year.

"Yes, Weasley, that is true. I became a registered cat animagus in 1954." A flurry of hands went up at the admission. "Hands down. I will talk more about this next year when we begin to cover animagi. For now, we are practicing transfiguring plates into cups." The class recognized that a topic was closed when McGonagall said it was, and all the hands dropped.

As the class practiced the new spell, Harry nudged Ron. "I can't believe Luna was sort of right about this one. I thought this would be one of her theories that fell completely flat. It's amazing how she can be so right and so wrong about things at the same time."

"Yeah, amazing," Ron said as he frowned at the plate in front of him. "Does Luna have any psychic abilities? I don't know how she could have come up with McGonagall being a cat otherwise."

Harry laughed quietly lest McGonagall lecture them on paying attention to their spellwork. "Nah, mate. She just gets lucky every once in awhile. When she throws out as many theories as she does, she's bound to touch on a bit of truth now and again."

Ron nodded, but internally, he thought that coincidence wasn't enough to explain the situation for him. He told his other housemates about Luna's clairvoyance, and by the time Halloween rolled around, word had spread around the school that Luna had the Sight. As a result, people approached Luna with questions about their future. Luna grew to hate those occasions since people often didn't like her predictions. Apparently, people didn't like the idea of working at Barnaby's Supplies and Supplements, the wizarding equivalent of Walmart, for the entirety of their adulthood.


	3. Chapter 3

To evade the many questioners, Luna skipped out on the Halloween feast with Lisa who didn't much like crowds anyways. They hid out in the common room snacking on treats Lisa's parents had sent her until Lisa decided that she needed to go to the library for research.

"Did you hear that?" Luna asked halting not too far away from the library.

Lisa listened intently in case whatever Luna had heard sounded again and then shook her head. "I didn't hear a thing. What was it?"

Luna held up her hand for silence. "It's coming from over there."

Lisa hesitated before following behind her friend. "I don't hear anything," she repeated.

Luna looked at her with wide, surprised eyes. "Really? It's quite loud. The voice is saying that it wants to kill and it wants blood."

Reaching out to grab Luna's arm, Lisa stopped walking pulling Luna to a stop too. She tended to play along with Luna's beliefs, but hearing voices went beyond the usual harmless tales that Lisa had gotten used to. "Er, maybe we should tell someone else about this."

"But it might be too late by the time we find someone. Whoever's talking wants to harm people."

Lisa bit the inside of her cheek nervously. "Are you sure this voice is real?"

Luna tilted her head in thought. "I suppose I can't be completely sure, but we better not risk it." She pulled her hand out of Lisa's grasp. "Let's hurry up. The voice is travelling quickly."

Luna followed the sound of the hissing voice up to the second floor and next to the girls bathroom that Moaning Myrtle haunted. At the sight of the stiff cat and the message written in a substance the color of blood, Lisa let out a shriek and Luna felt tears build up in her eyes. Before they could run for help, students started pouring into the corridor having finished up the Halloween feast.

A few minutes later, Lisa and Luna sat in Dumbledore's office with a distraught Filch and a distressed Professor Flitwick. "Why didn't the two of you attend the Halloween feast?" Dumbledore asked peering at the children through his glasses.

"I didn't want to make any more predictions about people's futures," Luna answered easily. "They sometimes get upset with me."

"What kind of an excuse is that?" Filch screeched. "Why were you the first ones at the scene of the crime?"

"I doubt we were the first ones there because that would imply that no one committed the crime which I highly doubt," Luna started. Filch opened his mouth to say something -no doubt something angry and caused by the anguish of losing his beloved cat- but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence him. "I think the thing that did commit the crime was the one saying that it wanted to kill although I can't be sure since Mrs. Norris is only petrified, not dead."

Dumbledore stared piercingly into Luna's eyes. "What do you mean by 'the one saying it wanted to kill'?"

"I heard a voice that sounded like it was in the walls. It said, 'Let me kill you' and 'I smell blood' and other such things. Following the voice led us to Mrs. Norris," Luna explained sending Filch an apologetic look as she brought up the cat.

Dumbledore switched his gaze to Lisa who still looked pale from the discovery of Mrs. Norris' seemingly dead body. "Did you hear the same voice?"

"Er-" Lisa glanced over at her friend. She didn't want to make Luna seem like a crazy person by admitting she hadn't heard a thing, but she didn't want to lie to the headmaster either.

"No, she didn't," Luna answered making up Lisa's mind for her.

"What did you do to my cat?" Filch accused no longer able to hold it in.

"It wasn't Luna." Lisa had found her ability to speak. "Or me. Mrs. Norris was like that when we arrived."

"Now, be reasonable, Argus," Flitwick admonished. "I understand that you're upset by what has transpired, but Luna is a first year and Lisa is a second year. They couldn't possibly have the capability of pulling off this level of magic."

"Then who did it? Am I supposed to believe this story of a mysterious voice in the wall that one of the girls didn't even hear?"

"That is what we are trying to figure out," Dumbledore interrupted. "Luna, is there anything else you can tell me about the voice?" "I don't know." Luna frowned. The voice had sounded empty and strange, but she didn't quite know how to explain it. She ended up just saying, "I didn't like it."

Folding his hands in front of him, Dumbledore nodded once. "Ok. Thank you for your help. The two of you may leave."

"You can't just let them go!" Filch protested.

Dumbledore levelled a gaze at the caretaker. "Argus, I promise you I will do everything in my power to figure out who attacked Mrs. Norris, but these two girls are not the culprits. They're tired and upset, and they need a good night's sleep after the events of the evening."

Lisa, who had gotten up as soon as Dumbledore dismissed them, stared questioningly at Luna as she stayed seated staring at the headmaster. "Is Professor McGonagall going to be ok?" Luna blurted out after Dumbledore finished talking.

Dumbledore raised his brows at Luna. "I have every reason to believe that Professor McGonagall is not in any danger. Is there a particular reason you're inquiring after her?"

Luna nodded wondering why Dumbledore hadn't made the connection himself. "The victim tonight was a cat. I'm worried the attacker is going after cats and that Professor McGonagall will be next on the list."

"You know about Professor McGonagall?" Flitwick squeaked.

Lisa swung her head wildly towards her head of house in shock. "You mean it's true?"

"Yes, Miss Turpin. Professor McGonagall is a cat animagus," Dumbledore confirmed. Lisa relaxed a bit as she realized Luna wasn't completely right about McGonagall being a cat. Still, she wondered how Luna's guess had been so close. "But she is rarely in cat form, and we don't yet know that the attacker is targeting cats."

"If she's an animagus, then she should be fine," Luna decided. She was pleased to find out that McGonagall was a human animagus rather than a cat humagus. She wasn't sure if the wizarding world was ready to accept humagi yet. "I don't think the attacker would count a cat animagus as an actual cat."

With that, Luna got up to leave much to Lisa's relief. Lisa could really use that good night's sleep Dumbledore mentioned.

The next attack came two weeks later. This time, the victim was not a cat, putting a hole in Luna's theory that the attacker was targeting cats. "The message said that they were going after muggleborns," Nashira pointed out in annoyance when Luna expressed her disappointment at her theory being wrong. "Anyone with sense could see that means the muggleborns are the target."

"No one asked your opinion," Lisa said in defense of her friend as she glared at Nashira.

"One doesn't have to receive an invitation to express her opinion. Especially not when you two insisted on sitting at my table and talking about nonsense."

Lisa folded her arms and frowned at the conceited girl across from her. She certainly hadn't wanted to sit at the same table as Nashira, but Luna had decided she had a companionship with Nashira due to their shared boat ride on the way to the castle. "Are you ever not rude?"

"Some might say it's rude to have a loud discussion when someone is trying to study right across from you two," Nashira shot back heatedly.

Luna quickly grabbed her wand and copied the motion she'd made on the boat ride. "Banishio!" she spelled.

Nashira rolled her eyes. "There's no such thing as quarrel fairies, Luna. It's time you grow up."

Luna shook her head sadly at Nashira's narrow-minded views. "You're so blind, Nashira. I'm sorry about whatever happened to make you deny anything slightly out of your comfortable set of beliefs."

Grumbling, Nashira went back to her studies deciding to just ignore the other two girls from then on. Lisa stifled a laugh before restarting the conversation with Luna. "Did you hear the voice again?"

Luna shook her head as Nashira peeked back up from her studies at Luna. "What voice?"

Luna lit up at Nashira's participation in the conversation. Lisa didn't understand why, but Luna craved Nashira's friendship. "The voice that led us to Mrs. Norris when the first attack happened. I heard it coming through the walls and followed it to Mrs. Norris."

Nashira flitted her eyes over to Lisa. "Us? Did you hear the voice too?"

"No. Only I could hear it," Luna answered for Lisa again.

Nashira scoffed. "Of course, you hear voices too. Loony Lovegood's at it again."

Lisa kicked Nashira under the table causing her to grunt in pain and reach for her wand. "Weren't you studying?" Lisa asked pulling out her own wand casually. If Nashira wanted to have a go at her, she'd be ready. She had a year of experience on the first year.

Scowling, Nashira pulled her hand away from her wand. "Sure. Keep pretending you believe Lovegood's nonsense, Turpin. Much good it will do her when she finds out her friend pretends to believe her tales for your own amusement."

Luna stood up abruptly grabbing her bag. She was an extremely tolerant person, but even she had her limits with other's discourtesy. "You're being very rude, Nashira. I don't know if I can be friends with you if you don't learn to act a little nicer."

Nashira stared back, a tad surprised but mostly indifferent, as Luna nudged Lisa along and stomped off. Finally, she could study in peace.

A few days later, Luna talked with another of her fellow boat riders, Amanda Shaw, since the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had Potions together and Nashira had refused to sit with Luna, Luna had sat next to Amanda once she recognized her. The two sat together every Potions class since the first one. The first Potions class after the first attack on a human, Luna noticed that Amanda looked pale. She also noticed that Amanda jumped up slightly in her seat when Luna took her seat next to her.

"Is there something wrong?" Luna asked when Amanda settled back down placing a hand on her chest.

"No, sorry." Amanda glanced around the room before leaning in closer to Luna to whisper. "I'm just a little shaken up by the attacks. I had no idea when I came to Hogwarts that I would be in danger for being a muggleborn. I'm thinking of writing my parents and going back home. The only reason I'm not is that I won't have the chance to learn magic if I don't stay. I can't imagine giving it up now that I know about it."

"Oh, don't worry. I don't think getting petrified is too bad. From all accounts I've read, people that got petrified described it as a restful sleep," Luna comforted.

Amanda didn't look any less frightened after Luna's words. "I heard that someone died the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened." Luna had heard that too. "Hey, do you think Voldemort is somehow behind this?" Amanda whispered. "Maybe he's trying to advertise for his underground gambling ring."

Luna smiled, glad that Amanda had read the copies of _The Quibbler_ she gave her to get acquainted with the wizarding world. "He might be. Once word gets out that the Chamber of Secrets is open again, his insiders will know that the gambling ring has returned. We should watch out for anyone that doesn't belong in Hogwarts sneaking around here."

Amanda worried her lip. "Do you think anymore attacks will happen?"

"I hope not." Their conversation cut short as Professor Snape swept into the room launching into a lecture on the effects of lacewing almost before he was visible from the entrance.

After Nashira's advice about learning more about the magical world, Amanda spent her first few days of school gathering intel. One of the people she got information from was Luna Lovegood. Happy to help out a fellow first year and potential friend, Luna dumped her assortment of _Quibbler_ magazines on the table in front of Amanda a couple of mornings after school started. Amanda eagerly dug into the magazines, enthusiastic about learning more, so she wouldn't make a fool of herself by her lack of knowledge.

As a result of her dive into the eccentric articles, Amanda brought up heliopaths during a conversation her dorm mates were having about magical creatures. In an attempt to prove herself savvy to the magical world, Amanda had latched onto one of the most interesting creatures she had read about and picked them as her favorite creature. In response to Amanda's contribution to the conversation, her dorm mates had looked at her dubiously before laughing behind their hands.

At that time, Amanda learned that everything she was reading in _The Quibbler_ was considered to be utter conspiracy nonsense by most witches and wizards. She felt rather embarrassed when she realized that her attempts to fit into the magical world had resulted in her looking like a nutter. Only, when Amanda thought about it more, she decided she should pay more attention to _The Quibbler_ instead of just discounting it like everyone else. As a muggleborn, she grew up with people that would have called her crazy if she expressed a belief in magic. Until receiving her letter from Hogwarts and the subsequent visit by a representative, Amanda, herself, would have called someone that professed their belief in magic a nutter.

With all that in mind, Amanda decided she should give the content of the strange magazine another chance. If muggles could remain ignorant of wizards, then it was entirely possible that wizards were missing out on the existence of a few things as well. Amanda dug back into the magazines lent to her by Luna, and found the accounts very convincing. Amanda became one of the biggest proponents of _The Quibbler_ , making her sort of an outcast in the school. Luna got away with having wacky theories since she was the Girl-Who-Lived, but Amanda had no such fame that allowed her to earn the forgiveness of her schoolmates.

Luna wasn't completely oblivious. She recognized that most of her friends didn't totally believe all the theories she did. As such, she appreciated having a fellow believer in Amanda. It made the conversation about the Chamber of Secrets much smoother when Luna was on the same page as the other participant.

"Why now?" Amanda asked while her and Luna sat by a tree outside in order to carry out this conversation privately. "If Voldemort's not dead, why did he wait until now to reopen the Chamber of Secrets.?"

Luna frowned thoughtfully. "That's a good question. I'm not really sure. He might have waited to make sure people were convinced he was dead, so that he wouldn't become a suspect. Besides, it gave him time to recollect chocolate frog cards."

"Why does he need to recollect the cards? I thought he already bribed all the aurors."

"He did, but he'll need to up the bribes since the stakes are higher now. Besides, there's new aurors that Voldemort will need to bribe."

"Well, I hope he doesn't feel the need to advertise his gambling ring for too much longer." Amanda shivered with fear. "If this continues, I don't think I'm going to come back after Christmas break."

Luna didn't know what to say. On the one hand, she didn't want her friend to leave the school. On the other hand, she respected Amanda's decision to put her safety first. She was saved from having to answer by Ginny approaching the two of them.

"How are the two of you holding up?" Ginny asked as she stopped in front of them. "Everyone I've talked to has been completely freaking out about this Chamber of Secrets thing."

"We're just hoping it will stop soon once Voldemort has gotten his point across," Luna answered, causing Ginny to flinch slightly at the name.

"You-Know-Who is dead, Luna. Remember, you were the one that vanquished him. Or didn't you think he was killed by a casino tycoon?"

Luna nodded. "That's what I thought, but the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets suggests that he probably worked together with the casino tycoon to fake his own death in order to put the suspicion off of him."

Ginny folded her arms, but didn't refute Luna's theory. Instead, she shifted her gaze to Amanda beside Luna. "You haven't looked well lately. Are you alright?"

Amanda bit down on her lip and looked down at Ginny's feet. "If the message is to be believed, he's going after muggleborns."

Ginny sat down next to Amanda and put an arm around her. "It'll be okay, Amanda. Hogwarts is one of the safest places in the world. Dumbledore will take care of this in no time."

Amanda stared back at Ginny with her lips pressed together. "Do you really think so?"

Ginny nodded. "Just, don't go out by yourself. Always walk with someone and get back to bed early. I'm taking that advice too. I may be a pureblood, but I'm not relying on the discrimination of whoever's doing this to keep me safe."

"That's true. And you should try to stay away from any cats," Luna added. "The first victim was a cat, so Voldemort might be targeting both cats and muggleborns."

As Ginny cringed again at the name, Amanda mulled over Luna's suggestion. She supposed she should take into account the fact that the first victim was a cat. It was strange. Why did Voldemort choose to attack a cat if he chose muggleborns as his target? Although, the message had only said, "Enemies of the heir beware", not anything specifically about muggleborns. An idea struck Amanda.

"Slytherin and Gryffindor had a huge disagreement, right?" Amanda asked. According to the legend being spread around the school, that had something to do with the creation of the Chamber of Secrets.

"Yeah, why?" Ginny asked.

"I was thinking, maybe he's attacking cats because Gryffindor's symbol is a lion, and Gryffindor was an enemy of Slytherin," Amanda suggested excitedly.

Luna clapped her hands together. "That's it! It makes perfect sense now. Amanda, you're brilliant." Beaming back at Luna, Amanda didn't notice Ginny's grimace.

"Guys, I don't think that's why Mrs. Norris was attacked," Ginny said.

"Why do you think she was attacked then?" Luna inquired curiously. She was always open to hearing new theories.

Ginny faltered. "Er, I don't know. I think it was just a warning."

"Maybe," Luna said fairly. She didn't want to put down her friend's theory even if she found it rather weak. "But I'm glad you're going to be careful going around the school. If Voldemort is, indeed, going after Gryffindor related beings, that means you're in danger."

Ginny shuddered, both at the name and at the implication that she could be the target of whoever opened the Chamber. "It'll be fine. Dumbledore will take care of this in no time," she repeated, this time to reassure herself rather than Amanda.

Luna smiled encouragingly at her. "I wouldn't worry too much anyways. I heard petrification is actually a good relaxation technique."

Somehow, Ginny wasn't anymore comforted by that than Amanda had been.


	4. Chapter 4

Luna loved winter. The cold air stinging her cheeks in a way that would have made her unsure if she was too cold or too hot without the winter scenery to clue her in. The snow crunching beneath her feet as the sun glistened off it. The fragrance of the chilled air. Luna loved it all, and that didn't even include the best part of it all. Wrackspurts hated the cold, and the winter climate kept the majority of them away, allowing people to think more clearly during the season.

As Luna sat on a bench outside, enjoying the chill, fresh air, Ginny and Lisa commented on the snowball fight going on in front of them. "Ooooh, right in the face!" Ginny called out as a snowball flew from an older black girl's hand into the face of Ginny's brother, Fred. "That throw was powerful and directly hit its mark. With accuracy like that, she certainly deserves her chaser position."

"Look over there! I think the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are forming an alliance." Lisa motioned over to where a small group was magically assembling a snow wall together.

"I thought it was a free for all," Ginny said with a frown. "If it's based on houses, why did Angelina hit Fred?" Ginny shook her head. "Never mind. It's Fred. I'm sure he tried to pull some prank on her."

"Actually, it looks like the Gryffindor front is completely falling apart. They seemed to have dissolved into a civil war of sorts." Lisa, Ginny, and Luna watched as the Gryffindors split into two separate sides and assailed each other with snow.

"That'll make them easy pickings for the other two houses," Ginny said, glancing over to the recently created snow wall. "Yep, there it is. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws start their assault against the divided Gryffindors. Will the Gryffindors be able to pull it together in time to defend themselves, or will the opposition successfully take advantage and bring an end to the Gryffindors fight?"

"Well, Ginny," Lisa started. "They're certainly at a disadvantage now. With the recent alliance, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws have the numbers, but I wouldn't count the Gryffindors out. They're an energetic bunch, and endurance matters most in a snowball fight."

"I couldn't agree more, Lisa," Ginny replied with a grin. "Sheer stubbornness often determines the outcome of snowball fights, and that lot is as stubborn as they come. Still, I think the Ravenclaw's ingenuity could prove pivotal."

"Ah, are you referring to the snowball cannon? That's an impressive bit of Transfiguration and Charms there."

"Indeed, it is. And- Oof. Looks like Lee Jordan just received the full brunt of the bombardment from that cannon. It appears to be very effective."

"That it does, Ginny. Unfortunately for the alliance, it looks like the attack got the Gryffindors to put aside their differences in light of the looming, outside threat. That could be a fatal mistake for the alliance."

"It may be," Ginny agreed. "It looks like the Gryffindors have some tricks of their own. It looks like Harry Potter is throwing dungbombs instead of snow. Is that even a legal snowball fight move?"

"I'm not sure. Let's ask our resident rules expert. Luna, what do you say?"

Luna was torn from her thoughts on the merriment of winter as the sound of her name broke into her consciousness. "Hmm?" She asked as she replayed Lisa's words in her mind. When she made sense of the words, she directed her gaze to the fight in front of her. "Oh, those aren't dungbombs."

"Then what are they?" Ginny asked. "They sure look like dungbombs."

"Those are unfertilized versnu eggs. They're designed to look like dungbombs to scare off predators. Harry's father received a bunch of them as a thank you for funding _The Quibbler_ 's latest expedition to Australia where Dad found the eggs. See, they're not going off."

Sure enough, all the dungbombs Harry had thrown sat at the bottom of the snow wall, still completely whole. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, who had retreated once the dungbombs were thrown, stared with confusion at the fallen projectiles.

"Either way, it seems to have been a successful diversion. The Gryffindors are launching a counterattack, and the alliance is caught off guard!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Not fair. Versnu eggs or not, I still think that wasn't a legal move," Lisa said with a frown.

"I thought that was Luna's decision." As one, the two girls turned their gaze on Luna questioningly.

Luna tilted her head staring over the snowball fight. Nobody on the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw side seemed to be protesting Harry's use of the Versnu eggs though that could have been because they were too busy ducking for cover. "I'm not sure there are any rules," Luna finally said as a Hufflepuff sent a Leg-Locker Curse at a Gryffindor, and still, nobody protested.

"But it goes against the spirit of the fight," Lisa persisted.

Ginny snorted. "You're just saying that because it's your house that had its efforts thwarted. Look, they lost control of their snowball cannon."

"Hey! Get your heads in the fight!" Lisa yelled out towards the alliance, garnering surprised stares from Ginny and Luna. She shrugged sheepishly. "I get a little invested in spectator sports."

The three girls giggled before Ginny stood up and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Come on, Gryffindor! Build a defense!" A few people glanced over, but most didn't pay Ginny any attention. Harry was one of the few who looked over, and he let a wicked grin slide across his face before launching a snowball over with a flick of his wand. The snowball landed a direct hit on Ginny's forehead, leaving her gaping back at Harry with residual snow on her forehead.

"Maybe you should worry about your own defense," Harry teased before focusing back on the battle he was in the midst of.

"Oh, that's it," Ginny said with a smirk as she gathered a handful of snow. "It looks like Gryffindor's about to have another civil war on its hands."

After Ginny marched off to join the fight, Lisa sighed. "Damn. I lost my fellow commentator. Any interest in commentating, Luna?"

Luna smiled. "Sure. Some blond boy throws a snowball at another blond boy. I'm not sure what he's hoping to accomplish, but I'm sure he has his reasons. I'm not sure if anyone knows the point of snowball fights or any fights."

Lisa nodded grimly. "We may never know the reasons, but let's not dwell on that. Instead, let's admire the impeccable execution of that heating charm by Ginny Weasley. Her adversary, Harry Potter, will have soaking socks and shoes until he finds an opportunity to dry them. A unique and well thought out move, though, one does wonder if the heating charm belongs in a snowball fight any more than dungbombs. Or versnu eggs, as it were."

"I don't know why the Gryffindors keep fighting themselves. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the Wrackspurts were involved," Luna responded.

"What makes you so sure it's not Wrackspurts?"

"It's too cold."

Lisa waited for Luna to expound on her explanation. When that didn't happen, Lisa just shrugged and nodded. "Absolutely. Much too cold for Wrackspurts. It could be those troublesome quarrel fairies though. You never know when they might strike."

Luna giggled. "Of course it's not quarrel fairies. Don't be silly."

"Right. Of course," Lisa agreed faintly. She always figured it was best to just go along with Luna said and not to ask too many questions. "Anyways, back to the fight. Merianne from Hufflepuff has lost her wand and resorted to throwing snowballs the muggle way. It's nice to see someone so dedicated to the game that they keep going in the face of adversity. Vivian from Gryffindor could learn a thing or two from Merianne. She quit as soon as she got hit with a snowball. Makes you wonder why she even wanted to participate in the first place. What do you think, Luna?"

Luna blinked as she saw Professor McGonagall making her way over to the warring crowd. "I believe Professor McGonagall has decided to join the snowball fight," she mused.

Lisa giggled. "What?" She didn't have a ready, in character response for that. Lisa followed Luna's gaze over to the approaching Transfiguration teacher. "She looks a bit grim, doesn't she? Snowball fights aren't aren't against any rules, are they?"

"I don't think it's about the snowball fight," Luna said slowly as McGonagall drew to a stop. The participants in the snowball fight halted their attacks one by one as they began to notice McGonagall's presence.

By the time McGonagall spoke up, all snow hurling related activities had ceased. "Everyone make your way to your common rooms. Immediately." A flurry of questions met McGonagall's announcement, all of which she ignored. As McGonagall opened her mouth again, silence swept through the crowd again. "Your head of house will answer any questions you have. For now stick with the other members of your house as you head back to the common rooms. Gryffindors, follow me."

"This can't be good," Lisa stated unnecessarily as the Gryffindors started trudging after McGonagall exchanging concerned looks as they did so.

"No," Luna agreed. For once, she didn't want to suggest any theories about what had happened. Something horrible had happened, and she was too horrified by the possibilities to voice them out loud. If recent events had anything to do with it, whatever caused all the students to get called back to their common rooms was related to the Chamber of Secrets. Luna felt certain someone else had been petrified, or worse. According to rumors, a girl had died the last time the Chamber of Secrets was open. Luna knew Voldemort had no qualms about murder even if just to advertise, so she didn't count out death as a possibility.

The Ravenclaws from outside joined an already crowded common room as they stepped through the entrance. The room buzzed with chatter as everyone speculated over what the emergency situation was. Spotting Nashira sitting by herself at a table while writing furiously, Luna pulled a reluctant Lisa in that direction. "How can you be studying at a time like this?" Lisa asked.

Nashira looked up briefly before turning back to whatever she was working on. "At a time like what? Do you know what's going on?"

"No, but I can guess," Lisa said. "The way Professor McGonagall looked, it has to have been another petrification."

Nashira tapped her lip thoughtfully with the end of her quill, taking an interest much to Luna's and Lisa's surprise. Nashira shifted a piercing gaze to Luna. "Did you hear that voice again? The one that Turpin didn't hear?"

Luna shook her head as she tried to piece together the reason she hadn't heard the voice again. From the voice's first appearance, it seemed as if it was related to the attack. Luna supposed she hadn't been close enough to hear the voice the next attack or while she was watching the snowball fight. "I think I have to be near it to hear it," Luna concluded out loud.

"Well, that makes sense considering that's how sounds generally work," Nashira drawled. Their conversation ended as the last few stragglers made it into the common room accompanied by Flitwick.

Flitwick hobbled over to the front of the fireplace and waited for the chatter to halt. Once the noise dulled to a weak drone, Flitwick cast a quick Sonorous. "I have some very grave news," Flitwick announced with a hitch to his voice. "A student of Hogwarts, Mary Fisher, was found dead in the fourth floor corridor. We are currently investigating the death and sending word out to your families. Anyone that wishes to leave early for the winter holidays will be allowed to do so."

"What about after the winter holidays? Are you shutting the school down?" asked an older girl that Luna didn't know the name of.

Flitwick slumped a little. "That is still undecided as of yet, but I do not believe we will shut down. Instead, safety measures will be put in place to ensure the safety of all our students. Safety measures that we will start using tomorrow."

More murmurs broke out over that statement. When Flitwick got his house to quiet down again, he outlined how the next few days before break would go down. Students would travel to and from classes in groups. First and second years had to be accompanied by their teachers between classes.

Luna adapted to the new escort service quickly though she did miss wandering the halls, getting lost, and finding her way back. It always felt like such an adventure. Amanda, however, was extremely grateful for the chaperones. Already having been freaked out from the petrifications, the death of Mary Fisher severely frightened Amanda to the point where Amanda definitively wanted to leave Hogwarts permanently.

"I think I can convince my parents to let me go to Beauxbatons," Amanda told Luna while Snape grouchily led them to the Charms classroom. "I know once I tell them about the attacks they won't want me to go to Hogwarts anymore either. I just don't know if my mom will let me go to a foreign country for school. She was already uncomfortable with letting me go to a boarding school."

Luna frowned. "I wouldn't choose Beauxbatons if I were you. It's well known that the school doesn't actually exist. The French ministry just uses it as a cover for their unethical magical experiments."

"Wait, what do you mean? Almost everyone I've talked to said Beauxbatons is the second best magical school in Europe."

"That means France's cover story is working well, but my dad did a story on it last year. He talked to the parents of a girl that went to Beauxbatons for five years and left the school with extensive brain damage. It turned out that they ran heavy charms experiments on the poor girl for all five years."

"That's awful!" Amanda gasped.

"Yes, it is," Luna agreed. Cases like this were how she knew her dad's work was important. "You should go to the Bern School of Magic instead. It is a small but very successful school. The only reason they don't get more credit is because they only have about eighty students at a time."

Amanda worried her lips. "Well, I certainly don't want to go to Beauxbatons anymore. I could try Bern. The small number of students might actually be a good thing. More one on one help from the teachers, you know?"

Luna nodded. From what she knew from her cousin that went to Bern, that was one of the appeals of the Swiss school. She didn't add anything else to her recommendation as they reached the Charms classroom, and Luna and Amanda split ways.

Everyone in the school was anxious to leave for winter break, not just Amanda. Luna was the exception. Her dad was on an expedition to Uganda and had arranged for Luna to stay with her aunt over the holidays, something that Luna was not looking forward to. It wasn't that she disliked her aunt, Luna just always felt unnerved whenever she stepped foot in Godric's Hollow. She supposed she had some lingering trauma from her mother's murder even if she couldn't remember it at all.

"You could come stay with me," Harry offered. "Mom and Dad would love to have you stay for the holidays. Besides, if you're there, you can entertain Sirius' kids, so I don't have to."

"Real nice," Ginny scoffed. "What's so bad about whoever these kids are?" "They're two and three. I don't like kid," said Harry unapologetically.

"I'd love to visit your family," Luna said ignoring all the commentary on Sirius' kids. "Thanks, Harry. Are you sure your parents won't mind?" "Mind? Merlin, no. I told you already, they'll be pleased."

Luna smiled happily. If she couldn't spend the holidays with her dad, at least she got to see the Potters again. Maybe James would have some new ideas for _The Quibbler_.


End file.
